O, Fickle Fate
by Forever Free Evergreen
Summary: Stand Alone AUs and One-shots pertaining to the what ifs of things had fate decided to be different. Focusing mostly on the Pirate Hunter and Cat Burglar R
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **_I do not own One Piece merely the words below and the chapters beyond_

_~#OP#~_

"Stop her!"

"Don't let her get away!"

Those words rang in Nami's ears as she fled from the remnants of the pirate crew she had ransacked as she tore through the streets towards the harbour hoping this easterly wind she felt kept up long enough for her to make her escape from the island before they caught up to her.

They were justified in being, for lack of a better phrase, pissed off at her. She had joined them a week ago offering her skills as a navigator after they had just lost their previous navigator due to his own stupidity. They welcomed her with open arms- as in literally given she was a girl- only for her to mutiny on them and make off with all their loot after some bounty hunter had shown up and captured their captain leaving them all disorganised and easy for the Navy to arrest them when they arrived after receiving an 'anonymous tip'.

She knew it had been foolish to remain on the island but her hunger coupled with her recent success in so many months had made her sloppy. Then again, how was she to know that the inn she had decided to stay in for the night along with a few hot meals would be the same one what was left of the crew that had managed to escape the Navy's clutches?

So now, she was running for her life while clamping a hand over her left shoulder where a bullet had managed to catch her with a ragtag group of former pirate dogs snapping at her heels. Even with her lungs fit to burst from over use, she kept going. If she died now, all her efforts would have been for naught, the villagers, her sister, her mother's sacrifice for her life…

Sharply turning a corner, Nami suddenly saw stars as she collided with something that felt like a brick wall causing her to literally bounce back the way she came to land painfully on her backside. Through dazed eyes, she managed to make out the form of someone standing before her in a ragged cloak the hood shadowing his face yet his eyes were still visible almost piercing her with its stare.

So caught up in staring into his eyes, Nami completely forgot about the pirates coming for her until their yells grabbed her attention allowing her to turn just in time to see them practically flying towards her before her view was blocked by something stepping between her and the pirates followed by the sickening sounds of the latter colliding with the two oars the cloaked stranger had grabbed from somewhere and used them to clothesline the entire lot of them.

"All these men just to handle one little girl? How pathetic!" The stranger scoffed as the pirates collapsed to the ground clutching their sore and swollen faces from where the oars connected with them.

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Nami quickly took the sudden turn of events to her advantage.

"Yeah, you tell 'em, boss!" She called out 'rooting' for her superior. "They're nowhere near worthy of our gangs time if I can rob them single handed"

"What did you just say?" The stranger asked in confusion twisting round to stare at Nami only to find the thief had already made it to the end of the street.

"They're all yours, boss! Show them the price for trying to muscle in on our turf!" Nami called out before disappearing round the next corner and out of sight.

"Boss? Turf? What is she…" As the stranger tried to piece together just what was going on, the pirates had begun to stand up and encircle him their fury at Nami's 'boss' allowing them to forget the current pain they were in.

"Some nerve you've got for thinking we would kindly let you steal our loot" One of the pirates growled waving a rusting sabre at the stranger's face.

"You may have caught us off guard before, but there's more of us than there are of you!" Another remarked.

The stranger did not even bother with words anymore. Too pissed off at the witch for shoving off her troubles onto him, he merely shrugged off his tattered cloak causing the three earrings in his left ear to jingle as it brushed passed. As one, the pirates stepped back in fear as they recognised his green hair and matching haramaki realising all too late just _who_ they had the misfortune of crossing paths with…

…

With the easterly wind blowing her boat farther from the island with each passing second, Nami sighed in relief ignoring the pain in her shoulder as she recalled just how lucky she had been to have stumbled across her saviour. Not only that, the thick roll of beri notes she had accidentally taken out of his pocket when they collided nearly totalled to _two thousand_ which, coincidentally, was almost the amount of beri the captain of the pirate crew was worth, now that she thought of it.

Despite feeling slightly sorry for the stranger she had shoved all her troubles on, Nami could not let it deter her from reaching her goal. All she could do now was search for her next target.

…

Walking away from the crippled bodies of the pirates, Zoro was in a right foul state. Not only did that little witch leave him to clean up her mess, she had robbed him of his hard earned cash. His only condolence was that he had been lucky to drop of his swords and pay for their repair _before_ running into that tangerine haired stick insect. Even so, that witch had better pray their paths do not cross again. Even if she was something he preferred not to cut, it did not mean that he _could not_ cut her.

_**~#OP#~**_

_Review if possible & until next time_

_Watch this space & peace out!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer on Chapter one_

_**~#OP#~**_

Bolting upright and dripping in a cold sweat, Robin gulped down as much air as her tiny lungs could take in as remnants of her nightmare about her village being burnt down and all those men and women after her and calling her a demon still lingered in her mind causing her heart to drum so badly she thought it would burst despite reading that such an event was impossible especially at her young age.

No sooner had she managed to calm down, the door to her cabin opened allowing the sunlight to briefly shine through before the orange haired woman entering closed the door behind her and made her way to her bunk.

"Are you alright? Zoro said he heard you cry out" She inquired sitting down beside the frightened little girl and draping a comforting arm around her.

Despite the kindness being shown to her, Robin did not lean into the orange haired woman's embrace. Over the last couple years, she had met similar people who offered kindness to her but really wanted the big bounty the Navy had placed on her just because she was smart and the daughter of a wanted archaeologist. These latest two were not fooling her in the slightest.

She had first met them in Loguetown after smuggling aboard a cargo ship on another island after being found out again. While initially there to see if she could find some work or at least some scraps to eat, she quickly found herself scampering through the backstreets when somebody recognised her from her picture not caring where she went so long as she got away from them only to instead run into a green haired swordsman with three swords and an orange haired woman who were previously arguing over something before catching sight of her.

When she woke up she found herself lying in the cabin bunk of a small sailboat with the green haired swordsman sitting against the wall opposite. Noticing that she was awake, he told her to rest up and eat indicating the plate of food and cup of water on the small table at the end of her bed before departing the cabin apparently to give her some peace. Even if she did not trust them, she would be a fool not to take advantage of their false hospitality and quickly inhaled the somewhat meagre meal with the orange haired woman promising her a better meal in the near future when she popped in later on to see how she was doing.

It turned out that Nami, the orange haired woman, was good on her word as their sailboat soon crossed paths with a sea fairing restaurant called the Baratie where Robin found herself being treated like a queen by the sous chef who dotted on both her and Nami while throwing insults, as well as the odd kick, at the swordsman, who she learned was called Zoro, whose scary face could become even scarier as he threw words and even his fists at the sous chef in reply.

Even as much as she enjoyed the meal, and the entertainment, Robin could not afford to let herself accept their comfort and hospitality. As such, she merely ignored Nami as she tried to comfort her from her nightmare until the older woman caught on and left the cabin pausing only to look at back at her sadly before disappearing out the doorway but leaving it open a sliver to let the sunlight slip through.

Seeing it as her chance, Robin quickly snuck out of the bunk and crept towards the door and was just in time for her to spy on Nami as she suddenly slapped Zoro away from the steering rudder of the sailboat exclaiming that he was sending them in the wrong way again.

"How can it be the wrong way, witch? That cloud's just as good as a compass!" Zoro argued pointing over at said cloud way out in the distance.

"Clouds drift and change shape, you moron!" Nami snapped back sighing heavily at his idiocy coupled with another matter entirely.

"What's wrong?" Zoro asked noticing her quick change in moods.

"It's Robin. It's been a week now and she's still keeping her distance from us" Nami sighed again leaning against Zoro as he sat down beside her. "I was sure taking her to the Baratie would help her warm up to us. _Sanjikun_ always manages to cheer me up"

Robin almost instinctively pulled her head away from the door when she saw Zoro's face turn dark with thunder even though it was not directed at her. She had read enough about human psychology to know that Nami had added that last part to get a rise out of Zoro although she knew little over the reason behind it. Perhaps Nami liked seeing Zoro when he was scary or something like a 'turn on' whatever that meant to her young mind.

"If that pervert's so perfect, why not go sailing the east blue with him instead of me?" He grumbled getting up only to be pulled back down by Nami.

"Firstly, he wouldn't benefit from the deal we have. Secondly, this is about Robin not us" Nami stated.

"Maybe this has something to do with it" Zoro suggested pulling out a crumpled piece of paper from his pockets. "It was with the latest catalogue of wanted posters I got when I handed in our last catch"

Despite seeing only the back of the piece of paper Nami quickly swiped out of Zoro's hand, Robin's breath still hitched in her throat as she recognised her wanted poster.

"Is this…Is this really…" Nami tried to get out as she stared at Robin's wanted poster. "How? Why? And for what?"

"Dunno…But the reward for her is at least double the amount you still need to get back your village" Zoro told her. "You could probably buy the whole island let alone the village"

Robin did not need to be psychic to know what was about to happen to her next yet her feet would not allow her to move away from the door as she saw Nami stand up with her wanted poster in one hand and one of Zoro's swords, the one with the white sheath. All she could do was watch as Nami stepped away from Zoro so that she was standing in the middle of what little space on the deck the sail boat had…

And began hacking away at the poster with the sword the moment she dropped it cleaving it clean in two before it landed where she began stabbing and slashing at it until it was nothing more than confetti. Even then, the woman ground the heel of her sandal into the remains so that what was left of it could barely be recognised before finally collapsing to her knees in exhaustion.

"I don't care _how much_ they're rewarding…" Nami growled determinedly between breaths. "I'll never hand a child over to them!"

Hearing those words, Robin's knees buckled as tears flowed down her cheeks. Every time she had witnessed someone holding her wanted poster, until today, those person's eyes were glazed over with greed at the thought of all that beri they could obtain by handing her over. At the sight of Nami's enraged face as she tore apart the poster, Robin could no longer hold back the floods and began bawling her eyes out.

No doubt alerted by her cries, Nami and Zoro were quick to rush inside and find the little girl beside the door of the cabin quickly piecing together that she had overheard their talk as Zoro scooped her up into his arms and protesting profusely at Nami for using his bandanna to wipe her eyes and nose like a simple snotrag.

Once calmed down and back inside, Robin listened to Nami explain their story while Zoro returned to the deck to man the tiller.

Not long ago, the two had met up at Loguetown for separate reasons and had tried to drown out their respective sorrows at the same bar. As the booze kept flowing and their tongues gradually became looser, it was discovered that Zoro had previously lost a fight against the strongest of swordsmen and was now searching for work to pay for his med bills along with obtaining some new swords to replace his broken ones whereas Nami had been trying to save up beri to buy back her village only for her savings to be dug up and whisked away while she was off fleecing pirates leaving her back at square one.

By the time the twenty-something round was served up, the thief and swordsman, both of which only just becoming tipsy, came to the conclusion that it would be more beneficial for both of them if they worked together: Zoro could fight tough opponents to improve his abilities while Nami got all the treasure the crew had horded plus the bounty. A win-win situation if Robin had ever heard of one. There was just one thing that Robin found wrong with the situation.

"Why are you not just handing me over? Because of my devil fruit powers, I can't swim so I can't really escape from the boat and the money would help you get back your village so…"

"Hey, calm down before you hurt yourself again" Nami shushed as she wrapped her arms round Robin's malnourished frame who quickly snuggled into the embrace this time unlike last. "Even if I did want to take you in, Zoro would never let me do so. He's a real softy when it comes to kids no matter how scary he looks"

"Really?" Robin asked curiously sounding genuinely surprised about this fact.

"Really-really" Nami replied smiling softly down at the child in her arms. "I don't know if it's _just_ for me, but he's taken quite a few blows in my place since we teamed up. I do know that he'll marching right down to hell itself and confront Satin if He ever tries to harm a little cutie like you!"

From the way Nami praised Zoro, Robin quickly deduced that she had feelings for the scary swordsman outside. Was the remark from earlier to try and see if he had feelings for Nami, perhaps?

"In the beginning, he might have been protecting you because you're his partner. After a while, he really might have feelings for you which you probably know about seeing how you're smile was bigger when Mr Zoro actually started to attack Mr Chef when he said something to you about sailing with him instead" Robin assured Nami who actually started to turn red slightly while staring at her in wonder. "Is there something wrong, Miss Nami?"

"Okay: first, call me 'Sis' or just 'Nami' got it? I'm too young to be someone's wife- even if my ideal man could be right outside for argument's sake!" Nami told Robin getting over her shock. "Second, how in the world can you be so educated? It's like you swallowed several books or something"

"The island I grew up on had a library I used to go to while Mom was away" Robin explained tearing up slightly at the thought of her home before the fires of destruction tore it down.

Sensing the sadness welling up inside the girl again, Nami hugged Robin tightly while rocking back and forth to help calm her down.

"You know, I've lost my mother as well. Guess that really does make us sisters" She giggled. "Is there anything you don't know?"

Robin stayed silent for a moment as she thought over her response before deciding to just answer honestly.

"I don't know how to make friends or what I do with them" She told Nami hugging the older girl's neck tight as she could.

A single tear trickled down Nami's cheek at her words. Resting her head atop Robin's, Nami swore that things would get better for the young girl even if it meant watching over her with Zoro for the rest of their days.

_**~#OP#~**_

_In case you did not understand it, Robin's history happens much more recently than in the actual anime/manga if this is any more understandable to you lot. It's kind of a double as there's also Zoro and Nami teaming up before meeting the future King of Pirates. If you're nice in your reviews, I might do a sequel to this._

_Anyways, review if possible & until next time_

_Watch this space & peace out!_

_(& send some ideas I'm open to suggestions)_


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